


black seas of infinity

by mintpearlvoice



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Angst, F/F, Female Runner Five, Fridge Horror, Gen, Nightmares, Psychic Bond, Spoilers, partially nonverbal character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-25 21:44:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12541872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintpearlvoice/pseuds/mintpearlvoice
Summary: spoilers through s2. spoilers for the halloween 2017 race. title is from "the call of cthulhu."





	black seas of infinity

Five shrugged off her pack and handed it over at the gates, already looking around for her favorite person. Sam was there, but he was more like... her second-favorite person. Top three. "Ah?" She asked, looking around exaggeratedly.   
"You're looking for Eight, aren't you- check her for bites." This last was to the people on guard duty; obediently she kicked off clothes until she stood in her boxer shorts and sports bra, raised her arms. They looked her over, brushed her growing hair out of the way to check the back of her neck. She never liked people touching her. Not strangers, at least.   
sara sara sara I want Sara-   
Sam must have seen her mounting fury and hopelessness. "Okay, she's good, we're good," he said, and helped her turn her clothes the right way out. She would have put everything on the wrong way around if it meant seeing Sara. Five fell into step with Sam, but-   
Instead of the runners bunks, or the training area, they began to head for the hospital.   
"Ah," she stated, frowning up at him.   
"Yeah, about that- Sara's sick, very sick."   
Panic flashed across Five's mind. she wanted to run and hide. Nothing was okay nothing was ever going to be okay again-   
"Don't worry! Oh god, no, she's not going grey, I would have called you back from the mission if it was that serious. Friends don't let friends die alone and all that."   
He pushed open the hospital door and gestured Five inside like a fancy doorman. She might almost have giggled. Not today, though.   
Maxine had several books spread out before her, and Five peeked at the headings: TELEPATHY AND THE PARANORMAL, SATANIC INFLUENCES IN DEMONS AND DARKNESS, ASTRAL TRAVEL… When she caught Five looking, she jumped to her feet, slamming the books shut as if embarrassed to be caught. "Afternoon, Five. You’ve heard, then?"   
She fixed Maxine with a questioning stare.

“Sara ate some poisonous mushrooms. She should be all right in a few days, but for now she’s not well. It’s as if she’s in a prolonged state of delirium.”   
  
The two parallel paths intersected in the round triangle. Sara squinted at them, trying to figure out which one to take. Behind her, the footsteps of her pursuit whispered along the concave stones.    
They were chasing her. That was fine. That was fine, really. She was faster than they were, at least over short distances. But on their dozen slithering black tentacles they'd outpace her in the long run. They never paused, never slept. And she didn't like the look of that glowing green water. The walls warped, shimmered, shifted. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pushed forward over a floor of intestines that tugged at her feet. There was something she needed to remember. Something about… how she’d gotten here. The last words she’d heard before being plunged into this nightmare.    
And then she felt it. Another mind touching her own. Not like the horror of almost getting caught. This was entirely different.   
  
Human as could be, fiercely innocent and redolent with untamed love. Shit. She tried to send a message back.    
Don't come after me, Five. There's nothing for you here. I'm already dead.   
Still the mind prodded, insistent and sparrow-bright, and the hope in it broke her.   
In sterile corridors Sara had plotted the slaughter of humanity's surviving fragments; she had watched with cold calculation in her eyes as civilians were hauled off to their deaths.   
She could not sacrifice anyone else for her survival and justify living. Five held the only redeemable piece of her soul.   
Do you not fucking understand? I'm polluted, as poisonous as the indigo acid these creatures bleed. I have sold myself, body and brain.   
I am no safe harbor, but a slave ship of corpses.   
I am not your anchor, little moonlight.   
I am the reason you will drown.   
It had been too long since her last dose of life, and her thoughts were as knotted as her muscles, but she managed to claw that mental door shut and devour the key. Five's presence left.   
  


"Damn it," Maxine murmured. "See, it's just like what I said, Sam. That's a chart of her brain waves. I've never seen such bizzarre patterns, honestly.   
Deep dreaming, or even maybe telepathy, if you believe in the paranormal- but with such a high level of muscle activation, it's hard to tell…”

Sam shook his head, concerned. “Paranormal? Really? Honestly, this Prince in Puce stuff- you need a rest, Maxine.”

The furrows in her brow only deepened. “I don’t know, Sam. Something feels wrong…”

“Still, Sara’s tough. I’ll bet anything she’ll wake up tonight or tomorrow morning- maybe a little dazed, a little dehydrated, but otherwise as right as rain.”

“It’s just- I’ve never seen brainwave patterns like this before, and her heart rate worries me.”   
Five clapped twice to get their attention. Food, she signed.   
"You want something to eat?" Sam guessed.   
She shook her head, pointed at Sara, and made the sign again.   
"You want to feed her something. You're worried that she might be hungry."   
Five nodded. Yes to both, more or less.   
Maxine sighed. "It's a valid concern. She does seem to be lucid at some points, but she's unaware of any food brought to her. I may have to start her on a feeding tube- but that would mean getting a feeding tube, and the idea of sending any runners back into that hospital concerns me when we know there are fast zombies right in that area..."   
Five steeled herself, preparing for the headache that words put into a sentence, even signed words, always brought her: I try.   
Maxine's weariness softened. "Then you're welcome to it. You know, in some ways, I don't know what I'd do if Sara wasn't comatose. She's the worst patient I've ever had. You know, her asthma's gotten at least twice as bad since she came off the Aurora, and she still won't let me put her on a nebulizer or even prescribe her an inhaler. I know she hasn't been bitten, but I still worry that one day that cough might be the death of her..."   
  
“Oatmeal with protein powder.” Sam said, moving jars and canisters aside in the pantry. “That sounds good, right? I'm no nutritionist, but I know how you runners feel about protein. Did you know Runner 18 over in New Canton  puts raw eggs in his smoothies?”   
Five shuddered and stuck out her tongue.   
“That's exactly how I felt when he told me about it. Alice was just like you in terms of food, you know. She wouldn't eat anything unless it was very salty or very sweet. I always used to ask her if she wanted some tea with her sugar." A sad smile flickered across his face, and Five swallowed hard.   
She couldn't imagine losing someone she loved that much.   
But I'm not going to lose Sara, Five thought. Not today. They'd agreed on how they wanted to die: armed and ready, fighting till the very last second. She wouldn't allow Sara to break that promise.   
"Vanilla protein powder, I think, and- what flavor of oatmeal?"   
Five sifted through the boxes. Then she held one up and grinned.

 

Sara was still running. She knew time had passed. It did that. But in a way, so much remained the same. The same unguessable architecture, the same constant, dizzying exchange of walls and floors.   
Then she heard the voice. It seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere. A young woman's voice, Rusty yet strong.   
B A N A NA N A...   
It had been her favorite fruit. Why, in this strange place, was she getting messages about bananas? Still, she recognized that voice. She had only heard it a few times, and yet it felt as familiar as her own. Sara opened her mind to the voice, and a bowl of banana oatmeal appeared in her hands. She stifled a laugh.   
Five refuse to give up on her, even here, even now. She ate a bite of the oatmeal. The freeze dried fruit still tasted just like the real thing after so many months without it. It would keep her strong for the escaping and fleeing ahead of her. Maybe, if she was lucky, she would even make it back home.

  
  


Five forced the words through her mouth, knowing she would get Sara’s attention. Words like banana and eat. Incredibly, Sara responded to her, swallowing and keeping down what she ate. Even through the pain of making herself speak, she marveled at their connection. 

“All right, Five,” Sam said at last, taking the glass of water and the bowl of oatmeal from his friend’s unsteady hands. “Don’t tire yourself out too much. Get some rest, all right? Make sure you eat and drink as well. I need you to be one hundred percent in case those lights on the horizon come back. Can’t have my best runner out of commission.” He patted her on the head, and she chuckled. “Go on back to your bunk. I’ll keep an eye on Sara for a few hours, I promise.”

“Thank you, Sam. If you watch over her, I can tend to other patients,” Maxine said, leaving with Five.

“It’s no trouble at all. Honest.” As the minutes ticked by, he watched Sara anxiously. Although her muscles only twitched, the grim expression on her drawn face made it seem like she was fighting for her life. Seeing her like this really hurt.

He tried to take his mind off things by eating the last of the oatmeal, but that didn’t help as much as he’d hoped. 

"I'm so sorry about this, Sara," Sam said, putting the empty bowl down by his feet. "God, I wish this hadn't happened. It's awful to see you like this- all still and pale, lost in dark dreams. You're usually so full of life, and energy, and curiosity... on the list of things I don't want, seeing a good friend like this is absolutely top ten.” He let out a sigh. “I really wish I hadn't needed to do this to you. The problem is, everything that's going to make you useful in rounding up and killing the last of the undead makes you really, really inconvenient for summoning an Elder God. I just can't risk the chance that your tendency to be overprotective of Five would outweigh your devotion to the greater good. When I saw you going through my papers- I just couldn't risk it. Don't worry, though. It'll all be over soon. Tonight, the moon rises." He patted her on the shoulder and left the room.

 

And, in her visions, Sara ran on through the endless labyrinth. An echo of half-remembered words pursued her: Runner Eight, I’m really sorry, but you know too much...


End file.
